MY STORY
CREATIVE. EDUCATOR. AUTHOR. PHOTOGRAPHER.
Hello, friend, and welcome. I’m Eva, and let's go on a little journey together.
I was born in Portland, Oregon to a Greek immigrant father and a midwestern mother. Our family had a Greek deli for 30+ years, and both of them have prettttty intense work ethics. And while I grew up in a very loving + supportive household, it was also one where overwork was the norm, and there was a nonexistent line between family time and restaurant time.
Starting in childhood where I lent a hand at the family restaurant when I could, through college where I was a full-time student with 3 part-time jobs my senior year, I carried that 'work yourself to the bone' mentality with me into adulthood. I also carried my obsession with photography along with it, too. I took my first photography class at 15 years old, learning on film in my high school’s little dark room, and progressing to my first DSLR camera after I graduated from Loyola Marymount University with a Bachelor’s degree in Film Production.
I always loved storytelling, and wanted to bring them to life with moving pictures. Unfortunately between the nepotism in the film industry, and graduating at the height of the recession, this proved to be very hard to make an actual living at. So during my post-graduation unemployment, I started my blog, Adventures In Cooking.
I was born in Portland, Oregon to a Greek immigrant father and a midwestern mother. Our family had a Greek deli for 30+ years, and both of them have prettttty intense work ethics. And while I grew up in a very loving + supportive household, it was also one where overwork was the norm, and there was a nonexistent line between family time and restaurant time.
Starting in childhood where I lent a hand at the family restaurant when I could, through college where I was a full-time student with 3 part-time jobs my senior year, I carried that 'work yourself to the bone' mentality with me into adulthood. I also carried my obsession with photography along with it, too. I took my first photography class at 15 years old, learning on film in my high school’s little dark room, and progressing to my first DSLR camera after I graduated from Loyola Marymount University with a Bachelor’s degree in Film Production.
I always loved storytelling, and wanted to bring them to life with moving pictures. Unfortunately between the nepotism in the film industry, and graduating at the height of the recession, this proved to be very hard to make an actual living at. So during my post-graduation unemployment, I started my blog, Adventures In Cooking.
Like most Greeks, sharing food with people has brought me immense joy my entire life, so I figured why not branch out from my friend group and share it with the entire internet.
Like most Greeks, sharing food with people has brought me immense joy my entire life, so I figured why not branch out from my friend group and share it with the entire internet.
I eventually got some desk jobs, then went on to the NBC Page Program, and worked admin jobs at NBCUniversal and various other production companies. And during that time I was working my 9-5 Monday-Friday, and shooting and writing for the blog + freelance photo clients over the weekend. This went on for about 4 years, until I got an offer to write my very own cookbook. I’m a financially nervous person, so I was waiting until I had a good amount saved before making the leap, and that cookbook deal was the safety net I needed to say goodbye to my admin jobs.
Time spent in the garden, really good food, traveling + learning about new cultures, the quietness of the deep woods.
I draw inspiration from...
So with my “normal” job gone, I threw myself into my creative work with the same vigor and intensity that I’d been doing for years with the two jobs I’d previously been balancing. It had been my dream to write a seasonal cookbook with a little bit of gardening + entertaining + lifestyle touches thrown in for a very very long time, and I couldn't believe it was finally happening.
But once I started writing it, it wasn't the pleasantly-paced experience I'd imagined. Instead I was met with the harrowing realization that I was writing the personal parts much less quickly than I'd estimated, and it was going to take me a lot longer to craft the written portions of the book than I'd anticipated. Then there was the amount of recipes that needed to be tested, photos that needed to be styled and shot and edited, recipe descriptions that needed to be written...it was a whole whole lot. Add in keeping up with the freelance photography work, my blog, the instagram world, and sponsored post stuff...
...It was a recipe for disaster.
I worked until late in the night everyday for months on end with no time off. I barely left the house outside of trips to the grocery store to stock up on ingredients. I hardly spent any quality time with Jeremy, and when I did I was always stressed out and not super fun to be around. I couldn't turn my brain off because there was SO much to do, and I felt like if I ever did turn it off I'd miss something important and wouldn't be able to get going again.
The feeling of failure was overwhelming. My career was the “best” it had ever been, but it was also the worst I’d ever felt on a personal and emotional level.
I didn't really know what to do or how to reign things in, so I just kept going at 200% in every direction. And at the end of the writing process I was completely burnt out and a shell of a human being. I'd poured alllll my energy into my book, and felt like I was failing everywhere else. I felt like a terrible wife, a bad blogger, a hermit of a friend...
I realized that because I’d been saying yes to everyone else for years, I’d also been saying no to taking care of myself that entire time. Whereas before I’d been so fiercely proud of my work ethic, I suddenly became deeply ashamed of how poorly I’d treated myself for so, so long.
So I made a shift. I invested time, energy, and money in myself. I took classes on things I wanted to get better at, I read 100+ books about creativity + small business ownership + marketing + time management, I put things into practice, looked at what worked, and got rid of what didn’t. It wasn’t easy, and it wasn’t fast, but over the following years I shifted the way I ran my business so that my business worked for me, instead of the other way around.
And the results were kind of shocking.
Even though I was working less than half the hours I had previously, I was making 2x the amount I did the year before. Making the time to look at big picture stuff and strategize is important, y’all.
Enter, Creative Business School.
After all of this, I started helping friends + peers who were going through the same struggles I’d had, and realized there wasn’t anything out there to help creative business owners manage the very precarious balance between profitability and a personal life.
Teaching is something that brings me an indescribable amount of joy. (My mom, my sister, and my brother all worked as elementary school teachers—so basically, it’s legitimately in my blood). I’d been teaching about creating visual beauty through my Photography + Styling + Branding course for years, so it made perfect sense to teach about the behind-the-scenes business systems + processes that makes a creative business thrive.
And with my shorter workweek, I was able to focus more on taking care of myself. I spent more time in the garden, enjoyed time with family, and even started meditating (which was a BIG leap for me). I thought about what I wanted long-term. And that was a family, and a peaceful place out in nature to create a home of our own. I envisioned holding a baby in our home and looking out the window at my favorite place in the world, the Columbia River Gorge.
of care + restoration, and we were ready for the task. And after 3 years of nurturing + care, there’s SO much life on the land again, and we’re planning to break ground on our homestead there in 2022.
eventually we found an affordable plot of 29 acres that had been completely clear cut by a logging company. The land was in desperate need of care + restoration, and we were ready for the task. And after 3 years of nurturing + care, there’s SO much life on the land again, and we’re planning to break ground on our homestead there in 2022.
eventually we found an affordable plot of 29 acres that had been completely clear cut by a logging company. The land was in desperate need
It was a journey, but....
You're in the right place.
In the words of Julia Child, “learn from your mistakes, be fearless, and above all have fun!”
You're more resilient than you think you are.
If you’re still reading this, you deserve a medal (also—thank you!) And I want you to know this:
...and that brings us to today.
It was a hard journey to get here, and there's a lot of rougher stuff I won't get into, but the long and the short of it is—we're made of tougher stuff than we think. We're capable of more talent, love, creativity, joy, and growth than we give ourselves credit for. We've just got to take the leap and go for it.
I know I’m very lucky to be able to live this life. But I think when you do what you’re passionate about, you have luck on your side. When you care about your work—the sort of work that gives you purpose and joy and warmth—it seeps into you, leaks out into the world, and starts to attract all the good things. Good people, good opportunities, good choices.
I know that most people aren’t able to pursue their passions full time, and that’s okay. But try to make your passion some part of your life. Even if it’s just for a few minutes a week, little by little, it will make each week brighter than the last. It might take you somewhere, and it might not, but at least you’ll be happy. And in the end that’s all that matters.
I hope that my passion and love for creativity, teaching, and sharing comes through here in my online home, and that it inspires you to create, learn, grow, and get your hands dirty in the best possible way. Life’s too short, friends!
